Every Hill a Burial Place: The Peace Corps Murder Trial in East Africa

Retired legal aid attorney Reid (Schafer State Park with Barbara Seal Ogle) offers the definitive look at a now-obscure 1960s murder trial that threatened the future of the Peace Corps. In 1966, Bill Kinsey became the first program volunteer to be accused of murder after his wife, Peppy, died from head wounds while the two were serving in Tanzania. Bill claimed that Peppy had fallen from a hill, but witnesses said they’d seen the couple fighting before her death, and a blood-stained iron bar and stones were found nearby. Bill was supposed to be afforded the same legal protections as an ordinary citizen of the country, but the prosecution was overmatched by the experienced, mostly white defense team that his family arranged, which got him acquitted. During the case, Bill’s arrest and confinement led Tanzania’s leaders to fear that the U.S. might launch a rescue mission. Reid, who served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania at the time of the trial, notes problems with both the prosecution and defense cases, leaving doubt as to whether justice was served. Beyond that question, Reid does a thorough job of surveying the dilemma the Peace Corps found itself in over whether it should take sides, and if so, on behalf of which volunteer. While the Peace Corps presented a neutral position to the public, Reid suggests officials seemed to do everything to support Bill’s case and little to examine Peppy’s side of things. This is an excellent complement to Philip Weiss’s account of a different murder case, American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps. (Sept.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review misidentified the author as a retired public defender.